Pleasanton Highland Games:
This games didn’t really go as planned. In hindsight, I made some mistakes that really affected my throwing. On the plus side, I won the national caber championship. This goes along with my weight for height championship at Woodland earlier this year. On the negative side, I finished ninth overall. Yes, ninth. It still makes me sick to say it.
I kept throwing way too close to the competition, and this was a major mistake. I quit lifting, but I wanted to take advantage of working with TJ on my technique. I threw the Saturday before the games, and again on Tuesday. I was thinking I should recover quickly because “it’s just throwing.” I was wrong. Very wrong.
My sleep was really bad until the Thursday and Friday before the competition. I was feeling good mentally on Friday and Saturday, but when I went to throw, I didn’t have any explosion. I think I ended up fourth in the open stone with a terrible throw of 43-something. My technique felt better on the 56 for distance – my nemesis – but I had no explosion or power. It just wasn’t there, and I think I got around 27’. I was having real balance issues on the hammer and went a bit over 80-something. By this time, I was exhausted and laying down between throws.
After the hammers, we broke for lunch. I was getting pretty pissed about my results. After lunch, we were moving to weight for height and caber. These are two events I can do well – and don’t have to worry as much about technique with.
I did really well with the caber, and even though I was late on one, I was able to ripe it. This was a very close competition – I think there were at least four of us who were all flipping very well, so there was no room to mess up, even on toss. After the caber, it was on to the weight for height. Me and Drew were the only two to clear 15’, but Drew got it on his first attempt. We both missed at 15’6”, so he got the win and I took second. I’m sure I could have gotten 16’, but I wasn’t finishing the pull, and the weight was going straight up and not over. I have to give Mike Pockoski a big thanks for all his help with this event. He is a coach and thrower.
After this, it was time to get something to eat, and to try to sleep. I got to spend some time bullshitting with Eric Frasure while loading up on Cytomax – to re-hydrate – and Muscle Milk. Eric is a good dude, and he’s pretty damned funny, too. I didn’t feel too bad, but sleep was not happening. I think I finally fell asleep twice – for about fifteen minutes each time – so this made for a fun Sunday competition.
We started with the Braemar, which was much bigger than any I’ve thrown before. I had a very hard time tucking it in and getting off a solid throw. My best was somewhere around 32’ with the 26 pound stone. The next event was the 28 lbs for distance. I was already lying down by this point. The first throw didn’t seem too bad and was around the mid-60’s. On the second throw, I really slowed down and was complete shit. On the third, I just said the hell with it, but it didn’t really go anywhere – around 57’. I had another bad day with the hammers, too, ending up with something like 103’.
After a break for lunch, it was on to the challenge caber and the weight for height. I was so totally wasted that I couldn’t even get myself angry. On my first attempt at the caber, it slipped right when I went to flip it. I almost rammed it right into my package – something that’s called a “Scottish Vasectomy.” My other two attempts were not much better, and I didn’t even get a flip. I then missed 15’ in the weight for height. Again, I was getting it high enough, just not finishing and getting it over the bar.
So now it’s back to the drawing board to re-plan. With my sleep and overtraining, I’m really bad when I’m off, and I do really well when I feel good. I know I did too much coming in to these games, and I’ll be sure to take more rest time going into my next games. It seems that the explosive movements are actually affected more by my overtraining than by lifting.
I think my technique is getting better, and I want to thank TJ Crator for working with me for the past few weeks. Unfortunately, I didn’t display everything he taught me, but I will next time. Winning the caber was cool, but I’m really pissed at both my ninth place finish and at the poor distances I threw. I keep telling myself that I didn’t win my first national powerlifting meet, and that this was only my sixth Highland games with very little practice. I will work my way up just like I did in powerlifting.
The game plan is to keep throwing two days a week, with one heavy bench workout and one supplemental workout. I’m going to do the Reno Highland Games and work on getting my bench to over 900+ by the first of the year. This will give me some time to work on getting my hip and hamstring recovered.
I still had a great time throwing with all the guys, and I have the utmost respect for all of them and their athletic ability. It was great to see some guys again, and to meet some new ones: Mike Dickens, Josh Grace, Sam Grammer, Ed Green, Monte Macer, Chad Gustin, Greg Bell, Rusty Price, Mike Susmark, Charlie Drake, John Collins, Eric Wechter and Drew Kirchen. Congratulations to Drew for taking the win!!!
It was also great to see all the pro throwers, who are amazing: Harrison Bailey 3rd, Sean Betz, Larry Brock, Mike Pockoski, Eric Frasure, Dave Brown, Bert Sorin and Ryan Vierra. They are a great bunch of guys and a special congrats to my fellow Muscle Milk team member for winning the pro class.
As usual, I’d like to thank Muscle Milk for all their great products and for supplying the event. Thanks also go out to Elite Fitness Systems, American Iron Gym, Team Disciples of Strength, Sportkilt, Metal Sport and Wear, and Bodytech USA. Also, thanks to Mike and Mindy Pockoski for their help with the weight for height, and all the throwers, judges, assistants and everyone else who helped run the games.
Q&A:
I see from your old logs that you used to do a lot of goodmornings. Can you elaborate on this?
I agree with Louie Simmons’ idea of doing good mornings 80% of the time. It was rare that I’d change foot position. Most were done with a wide stance, like I squat, but every once in a while I would do them narrow. Bar position always stays the same, although we vary bars a lot. The safety squat bar and cambered bars are awesome for goodmornings. I also like to do suspended versions, too. You can mix and match for a lot of different versions. One of the most important keys is to always work on keeping a good arch in your back. I always work on pushing my butt back, too – and not bending forward.
You mentioned in Mark Bell’s video that you do a lot of stretching for your hips to get your form down when squatting wide. Can you talk about this?
I do a lot of regular hamstring stretches – lying on my back and pulling one leg up by holding behind my knee or ankle, or by just putting one leg up on something and bending forward. I also do some other glute stretches where I’m on my back pulling my right knee to my left shoulder, and vice-versa. One of the best stretches is on this video:
I spread my legs out wide, then arch my back up and bend forward. This is the best one to help a wide squatter get into the proper position. You should hold these longer than 30 seconds – preferably for a minute. Make sure you arch back and don’t hunch it. At first you may have to stretch every day, but as you become more flexible, you should be able to maintain it by just stretching a couple of times a week.
In your experience, what’s the best training split you’ve found for throwers?
I really didn’t change my split from powerlifting too much and just tried to listen to my body. I think the Westside principles are still the best, even for throwing. The question is how much time is needed for throwing technique, and how much is spent on the weight training. I believe technique and actually throwing are more important than weight training. I’m a perfect example of this. I’m much stronger than some of the other throwers, but I’m still new and don’t have the best technique yet, so they out-throw me. All the power in the world is almost useless without the ability to hit the proper power position. Just think what I’ll be able to do once I get the proper technique!
I think the program is a 14-day split where you have a dynamic week with speed bench and a speed squat/deadlift day. The next week is max effort week, with a max bench day and a max squat/deadlift day. This will build great strength and give you plenty of time to spend throwing and working on technique.
As for in-season training, I know some throwers who will completely quit lifting during the season. The say you have to be able to deal with getting weaker, but their throws usually get better. I don’t really like the idea of not lifting, but lifting during the season is a lot on the body depending on how many competitions you do. Generally, I do most things by how my body feels. I would recommend cutting out the max effort work and concentrating on just dynamic/speed days in order to keep your workload down during the season. At this point, you’re basically just working on maintaining your strength.
How can someone know their aptitudes in these events and specialize as soon as possible?
This is kind of a tough question. A good coach should be able to watch you and see your natural ability in each event. Personally, I don’t give a crap about genetic ability or aptitudes. I think it’s all about heart. I would just try the different events and see what you like the best. Which one feels right to you? Which one do you want to spend a lot of time doing? There are so many different types of people throwing in different events. I think it just matters how hard you’re willing to work, how much you’re willing to dedicate, and how much you’re willing to give to the sport. If you’re good at throwing, you can throw just about anything.